Setting lighting based on the colors of samples

ABSTRACT

Illumination of an environment can be selected based on target colors that the illumination would provide for specific samples. One process for synthesizing the illumination includes repeatedly selecting settings for separate light sources in a luminaire system and determining a merit function of the target colors of the samples and apparent colors of the samples under illumination that the luminaire system would produce with the settings selected. The value of the merit function thus determined can be used to identify a synthesized illumination, for example, the synthesized illumination that provides a smallest value. A luminaire system can implement such a process in a luminaire or in a control system for luminaires.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent document is a divisional and claims benefit of the earlierfiling date of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/069,899, filed Nov.1, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Objects often have different apparent colors when illuminated withdifferent light sources. Clothing, for example, may appear to havedifferent colors depending on whether the clothing is seen under LEDlights, fluorescent lights, incandescent lights, sunlight, or moonlight.This can cause problems, for example, if a consumer buys clothing in onelighting environment and wishes to wear the clothing in another lightingenvironment. Advanced lighting systems or luminaires have recently beendeveloped that have a programmable spectral power distribution and canmimic different light sources. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No.8,021,021, entitled “Authoring, Recording and Replication of Lighting.”Such luminaires may be programmed to produce a spectral powerdistribution that, within the range of visible light, closely reproducesthe spectral power distribution of a target light source. Theseluminaires may include multiple light channels with each light channelhaving a separately adjustable intensity or power setting, and eachlight channel may produce light with a spectral power distribution thatdiffers from the spectral power distributions of the other lightchannels. The programming or control of the separate intensities of thelighting channels can cause the lighting channels to collectivelyreplicate the spectral power distribution of a target light source.However, the fidelity of the replication will generally depend onfactors such as the number of independently controlled light channelsand respective frequency or wavelength ranges of the light channels. Forexample, a light source having three light channels, e.g., red, blue,and green, may be able to produce white light, but the spectral powerdistribution of the white light may be a grossly inaccurate reproductionof the spectral power distribution of a target white light source. Theinaccuracy of the replication of a target light source can result inparticular items not having the apparent color that the items would haveunder the target light source.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a lighting technique foran environment or scene can select or synthesize the spectral powerdistribution of light from a lighting system based on the target colorsor appearance of particular samples or objects. Synthesis of the lightmay also account for the capabilities of an available luminaire system,so that the lighting from the luminaire system may best achieve thetarget colors or appearance of the samples. For example, the targetcolor points associated with the samples may be color points thatcorrespond to the apparent colors of the samples in a particular targetillumination, e.g., under sunlight, but instead of attempting toreplicate the target illumination, the lighting technique synthesizes aspectral power distribution that best reproduces the target colorpoints. With this lighting technique, a luminaire system with relativelyfew light channels can illuminate an environment or scene and give theobjects in the environment appearances closest to the desiredappearances.

In one specific implementation, a method includes: selecting a set oftarget colors respectively for a set of samples; and finding settingsfor light sources in a luminaire system. The setting may be selectedbased on differences between the target colors of the samples andapparent colors of the samples under illumination that the luminairesystem would produce with the settings selected.

Another implementation is a method of operating a luminaire system forilluminating an environment. The method includes selecting a set oftarget colors respectively for a set of samples, identifying asynthesized illumination resulting from light sources in the luminairesystem producing respective intensities, and driving the light sourcesto produce the synthesized illumination to illuminate the environment.Identifying the synthesized illumination may include determining orminimizing a difference between the target colors of the samples andapparent colors of the samples under illumination from the luminairesystem.

Yet another implementation is a luminaire system that includes multiplelight sources. A processing unit of the luminaire system may beconfigured to determine driving signals for the light sources based ondifferences between target colors respectively of a set of samples andapparent colors respectively of the samples under illumination from thelight sources. A driver in the luminaire system can then apply thedriving signals to the light sources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an implementation of a luminaire system including aluminaire capable of synthesizing and producing illumination for anenvironment.

FIG. 2 shows one implementation of a luminaire system including a servercapable of synthesizing illumination that one or more luminaires producefor an environment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a process for synthesizing illumination froma luminaire system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process that identifies the target colors ofsamples based on the appearance of the samples under a targetillumination.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process that identifies the target colors ofsamples based on deterioration or fading of the samples.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process that synthesizes illumination to minimize adifference between the target colors of samples and the apparent colorsof the samples under illumination from a specific luminaire system.

FIG. 7 is a contour map showing the dependence of a merit function ondrive levels and illustrating the effect that a constraint has onpermitted drive levels of candidates for a synthesized illumination.

FIG. 8 illustrates a process for identifying drive levels of asynthesized illumination.

FIG. 9A illustrates color points and drive levels on a chromaticitydiagram for five light channels that collectively produce thesynthesized spectral power distribution.

FIG. 9B shows a target spectral distribution and a synthesized spectralpower distribution from a 5-channel luminaire system as in FIG. 9A.

FIG. 9C illustrates differences between target color points of a set ofsamples and apparent color points of the samples under the synthesizedillumination of FIGS. 9A and 9B.

FIG. 10 illustrates a data structure that represents a spectral powerdistribution using photometric characteristics such as color points forthe spectral distribution and for a set of samples.

The drawings illustrate examples for the purpose of explanation and arenot of the invention itself. Use of the same reference symbols indifferent figures indicates similar or identical items.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The spectral power distribution for illumination of an environment suchas a room or other area can be synthesized according to the capabilitiesof a lighting system that illuminates the environment and the colorpoints desired for a set of samples. In particular, a synthesis processcan identify and set the operational parameters of a luminaire system,e.g., drive levels, to minimize a measure of the difference between thetarget color points for specific samples and the color points that thesamples would have under synthesized illumination from the luminaire.The target color points may depend on a goal for the illumination. Forexample, the color points may correspond to the appearance of thesamples under a target illumination, or the color points may be chosento achieve an aesthetic goal. The synthesis process can also takeaccount of a target illumination by constraining the synthesizedillumination to have a color point the same or nearly the same as thecolor point of the target illumination.

FIG. 1 illustrates a luminaire system 100 for illuminating anenvironment 180 containing a set of objects 190. As described more fullybelow, the apparent color of each object 190 to the human eye willgenerally depend on a color metric, i.e., a spectral reflectance orspectral transmittance, of that object 190 and the spectral powerdistribution of the light that illuminates the object 190. As a result,each object 190 has a range of apparent colors that can be rendered byappropriate illumination. Luminaire system 100 may operate to providetarget colors to objects 190 or provide target colors to samples otherthan objects 190, provided that the target colors are achievable andconsistent.

Objects 190, in general, can be anything that reflects or transmitslight. For example, objects 190 may be products or produce displayed forsale or other commercial purpose, dabs of paint or pigment on a work ofart, articles of clothing, plants, flowers, colored glassware, or roomfurnishings. In one case, objects 190 are color samples that haveoptical metrics defined by a public standard and that are used tocalibrate or set the illumination of environment 180 as describedfurther below. For example, the color samples may be any samples withreflectances or transmittances that may have been measured or are knownfrom literature, e.g., a Color Quality System (CQS) set.

Luminaire system 100 includes a user device 110, one or more luminaires120, and in some implementations, a light sensor 130. User device 110 isa control device and may be a computing device such as a personalcomputer, a laptop computer, a pad computer, a smart phone, or a customcontrol device. In one implementation, user device 110 implements a userapp 112 that may provide a user with indicators of the status ofluminaire system 100 and may allow the user to control luminaire system100. For example, user app 112 may inform the user of the types,configurations, and current statuses of luminaires 120 in system 100 andmay allow the user to download, select, synthesize, or activate lightingscenarios that may be implemented through luminaire system 100. Userdevice 110 may also include a message driver 114 that formatscommunications according to the protocol or protocols used in luminairesystem 100 and a network interface 116 including communication hardwaresuch a WiFi, Bluetooth, or other transceivers capable of communicatingwith luminaires 120.

Sensor 130 may be an independent device having its own network interface(not shown), e.g., for communication with user device 110, luminaire120, or other devices. Alternatively, light sensor 130 could be embeddedwithin user device 110, luminaire 120 or another device such as a server(not shown). When light sensor 130 is embedded in another device, thatdevice may provide network interface through which light sensor data canbe communicated, or in some cases, a network communication of sensordata may not be required. In general, light sensor 130 is optional, andthe location and use of a light sensor in a luminaire system may beimplementation-dependent.

Each luminaire 120 may be a lighting fixture that produces light havinga spectral power distribution that varies according to the lightingscenario implemented for lighting of environment 180. In the illustratedembodiment, luminaire 120 includes multiple light channels 140 whereeach light channel 140 produces a different spectral power distribution.In the illustrated embodiment, luminaire 120 includes M light channels140, sometimes referred to herein as light channels 0 to (M−1). Eachlight channel 140 may, for example, include a set of light sources suchas LEDs. Further, each light channel 140 may contain different types orcombinations of light sources, so that different light channels producedifferent spectral power distributions. In one implementation, lightchannels 0 to (M−1) produce different narrow-band colored light withpeak intensities at different wavelengths, e.g., with lower numberedlight channels producing lower frequency or longer wavelength light thando the higher numbered light channels. Alternatively, one or more oflight channels 140 may be a broadband or white light source. Forexample, light channels 140 could include a white, off-white, amber,green, or lime phosphor-converted LED. Alternatively, a light source forone or more light channel 140 could be formed as a combination ofconnected LEDs, for example, serially connected red LEDs with differentpeak wavelengths.

A processing system 150 in light source 120 may include conventionalsystems such as a processor and memory configured to control a powersupply and driver 142 in order to select the respective lightintensities emitted from channels 0 to (M−1). In particular, driver 142may control a drive level for a light channel 140 by controlling theamplitude and/or duty cycle of the power supplied to the light source orsources in the light channel 140. The spectral power distribution ofillumination from luminaire 120 may thus depend on the combination ofdrive levels or signals selected for light channels 140 by processingsystem 150, and as a result, luminaire 120 can produce a wide variety ofspectral power distributions and produce lighting scenarios in which thespectral power distribution from luminaire 120 changes over time and/orvaries spatially.

FIG. 1 shows an example implementation in which processing system 150executes a server program 152, a driver control 154, and an illuminationsynthesis engine 156. Server program 152 may control a file system 160for luminaire 120 and control data communications with other devicessuch as user device 110, other luminaires 120, or light sensor 130.Driver control 154 may be adapted for operation of light channels 140and power supply and driver 142 to set the drive levels that control theintensity of light from light channels 0 to (M−1).

Illumination synthesis engine 156 in luminaire 120 may be employed todetermine operating parameters, e.g., parameters for driver control 154or drive signals from driver 142, that best achieve specificillumination goals as described further below. In particular,illumination synthesis engine 156 may cause luminaire 120 to producelighting according to a scenario or goals defined by lighting controldata. Such lighting control data may be loaded into luminaire 120 as aresult of commands from user device 110. In the configuration of FIG. 1,result of illumination synthesis engine executing a synthesis processrepresented by the control data may be a lumenscript 162 that indicatessequences and timing of the drive levels for light channels 140.

In some particular lighting synthesis processes described further below,illumination engine 156 can synthesize illumination such that a set ofsamples when under the synthesized illumination would have apparentcolors close to target colors for the samples. For such a process,illumination synthesis engine 156 may use data including systemconstants 163, channel spectral power distributions 164, a targetspectral power distribution 165, target color points 166 of samples; andoptical metrics 168 of the samples. System constants 163 may includeconstants that are generally applicable to many illumination synthesisproblems. For example, system constants 163 may include representationsof color matching functions (CMFs), which as described below may be useddetermine color points corresponding to spectral power distributions.Each channel spectral power distributions 164 may represent the shape ofthe spectral power distribution that a corresponding light channel 140generates, and channel spectral power distributions 164 may be set at afactory or during a most-recent calibration of luminaire 120.Accordingly, channel spectral power distributions 164 may be specific tothe type of luminaire 120 or to the specific luminaire 120. Targetspectral power distribution 165, which may only be relevant for somesynthesis processes described herein, represents the spectral powerdistribution of a target illumination and may be provided toillumination synthesis engine 156 in lighting control data that isloaded into luminaire 120 to represent a goal of the synthesizedillumination. Target color points 166 represent the desired colors ofsamples and may be tristimulus values described further below. Targetcolor points 166 may be provided to illumination synthesis engine 156,e.g., through lighting control data representing goals for thesynthesized illumination or may be calculated by illumination synthesisengine 156 during an illumination synthesis process. Optical metrics 168of the color sample set may represent the respective spectralreflectances or transmittances of the samples having target color points166. Optical metrics 168 may be constants associated with a standardsample set, provided to illumination synthesis engine 156 with lightingcontrol data defining the goals of a synthesis process, or determined asa result of a measurement process, e.g., using light sensor 130.Illumination synthesis engine 156 can use such data or constants 163 to168 in a process that determines operating parameters for a synthesizedillumination to achieve desired goals such as causing samples to havetarget colors.

The luminaire system of FIG. 1 includes a smart luminaire 120 includingillumination synthesis engine 156. Alternatively, the process ofillumination synthesis may be performed in other processing devices,e.g., in user device 110 or by an external service. FIG. 2, for example,shows a luminaire system 200 in accordance with an implementationemploying a server 210 capable of executing illumination synthesis. Inthe illustrated implementation of FIG. 2, luminaire system 200 includesa user device 110, server 210, and one or more luminaires 220. Userdevice 110 may be identical to user device 110 of FIG. 1 andparticularly can provide a user with an interface for controllingluminaire system 200.

Server 210 provides the processing power necessary to execute a serverprogram 215 and an illumination synthesis engine 216. In particular,server program 215 controls a file system 212 and controlscommunications through a network interface 218, for example, to receivelighting control data from user device 110 and to send a lumenscript 162to luminaire 220. Network interface 218 may use a common network forcommunication with user device 110 and luminaire 120 or may use separatenetworks, one for communication with user device 110 and another forcommunication with luminaires 120.

Illumination synthesis engine 216 performs an illumination synthesisprocess in response to lighting control data and may use constants 163,channel spectral power distributions 164 for luminaire 220, colormatching functions 165, a target spectral power distribution 166, targetcolors 167 for samples, and optical metrics 168 for the samples. Server210 may, for example, may be a general purpose computer with a processorand memory suitable for program code that when executed performs thefunctions of server program 215 and illumination synthesis engine 216.In some implementations, the functions of user device 110 and server 210of FIG. 2 may be integrated into a single computing device.

An advantage of employing server 210 in luminaire system 200 whencompared to luminaire system 100 of FIG. 1 is that the processingrequirements of each luminaire 220 may be less so that less expensiveluminaires 220 may be employed. Each luminaire 220 employs a processingsystem 224 executing a server program 225 and a driver control 154.Server program 225 can control a network interface to communicate withserver 210 and download a lumenscript 162 to a file system 222 inluminaire 220. Lumenscript 162 can then indicate a sequence and timingof drive signals that driver control 154 uses to control power supplyand driver 142 for light channels 140. Luminaire 220 does not need toexecute an illumination synthesis engine or synthesize illumination toachieve a user's lighting goals.

One goal for synthesized illumination generated by the illuminationsynthesis engine in server 210 of FIG. 2 or in luminaire 120 of FIG. 1may be to approximate the appearance of a set of color samples under atarget illumination. The target illumination, which may or may not bewhite light, could, for example, be natural light such as light from thesun or sky under certain atmospheric conditions, e.g., fog, dark clouds,sunset in a smoggy valley, sunlight filtered through trees. The targetillumination in another example could provide the spectral powerdistribution associated with a particular type of artificial lighting,e.g., incandescent or fluorescent lighting. The target illumination inanother example could provide the spectral power distribution associatedwith a particular type of lighting not easily available, for example,light radiated of a red dwarf star, or sunlight reflected by a planet.In one attempt at synthesizing lighting that provides the apparentcolors found under a target illumination, illumination synthesis engine156 or 216 could attempt to identify respective intensities for lightoutput from light channels 140 so that the light from light channels 140collectively provide an approximation of the target illuminationspectrum. Such approximation is most commonly identified by minimizingthe sum of square differences between target and approximated spectra ateach wavelength. However, the accuracy of the approximation of thetarget illumination typically depends on the number M of light channels140 and/or characteristics such as the wavelength resolution of lightchannels 140. In a case in which luminaire 120 has a modest number oflight sources, e.g., four to six light channels, the best approximationof the target illumination spectrum that luminaire 120 can produce maybe significantly different from the target illumination, and theappearance of the color samples under the approximated illumination maybe substantially different from the appearance of the color samplesunder the target illumination. In other words, with a modest number ofindependently controllable light channels, achieving the smallestdifference between the spectral power distributions of the targetillumination and an approximated illumination may not at the same timeprovide the smallest possible difference between apparent colors ofsamples under target and approximated illumination.

An alternative process for synthesizing illumination under which objectsor samples have appearances more similar to their appearances under atarget illumination directly considers or minimizes the differencesbetween the colors of the samples under the synthesized illumination andthe colors of the samples under the target illumination. As a result,illumination synthesis engine 156 or 216 or another processing systemmay synthesize illumination that achieves the best appearance of thesamples but may differ from the best approximation of the targetillumination spectrum that luminaire 120 could achieve.

FIG. 3 is a simple flow diagram of a process 300 for synthesizingillumination that gives desired apparent colors to samples. Process 300includes blocks 310 and 320 that respectively choose a set of samplesand determine the respective optical metrics of the samples. The samplesmay be chosen in a variety of ways.

The samples may be a set of objects in the environment to beilluminated, e.g., objects 190 in environment 180 of FIG. 1. Forexample, the samples may be the objects for which a synthesizedillumination is sought to give the objects in the illuminatedenvironment a particular aesthetic appearance, e.g., to emphasize,deemphasize, or otherwise affects the appearance of the objects.Commercially, products such as apples, carrots, or lettuce may havedesired red, orange, or green colors that consumers find appealing, andthe products may be the samples for which the synthesized illuminationprovides apparent colors that are the same as the appealing targetcolors. Alternatively, samples that are not objects in the illuminatedenvironment or that will not remain in the illuminated environment maybe representative of the environment or the desired illumination. Inparticular, samples may be selected that are representative of orrelated to the particular objects that may be in the environment or maycome into the environment. In yet another alternative, the samples couldbe fixed for a luminaire system and chosen, for example, duringmanufacture of the luminaire system for the purpose of defining spectraldistributions with compact representations that areluminaire-independent. In such cases, the representative samples may be,for example, color samples having characteristics, e.g., reflectances,defined under a public standard.

An optical metric such as a reflectance or transmittance for a sampledetermined in block 320 may be given by a function or a lookup table orvector relating the frequency or wavelength of the illumination to thefraction of light reflected or transmitted by the sample at thatfrequency or wavelength. In some implementations, the samples may beavailable for measurement, e.g., are in the environment illuminated bythe luminaire system, and the reflectance or transmittance of eachsample may be measured. In luminaire system 100 of FIG. 1, a process formeasuring the reflectance or transmittance of a sample can coordinatethe spectral content of light from luminaire 120 with measurementssensor 130 takes of light reflected from the sample or transmittedthrough the sample.

A block 330 identifies or determines the target apparent colors for thesamples, and a block 340 finds a synthesized illumination. Thesynthesized illumination ideally has a spectral power distribution thatwould cause the samples to appear to have the target colors. However, ingeneral, a synthesized illumination that exactly provides the targetcolors for all samples may not be possible, and the synthesizedillumination may give the samples apparent colors that according to somemeasure are as close to the target colors. In one implementation,finding the synthesized illumination in block 340 involves a process ofminimizing a difference between the target colors and the apparentcolors of the samples under constraints such as the performance limitsdefined by the capabilities of the luminaire system creating thesynthesized illumination. For example, the illumination that luminairesystem 120 of FIG. 1 can provide may be limited by the number M of lightchannels in the luminaire system, the spectral power distributions 164of light channels 140, and available values of drive levels for lightchannels 140. Other constraints may be placed on a minimization processsuch as a constraint on the color point or color temperature of thesynthesized illumination.

The target colors identified in block 330 may be selected in many waysdepending on the goal or purpose of the synthesized illumination. Forexample, a user may directly select the target colors according to hisor her personal preferences. Alternatively, FIG. 4 illustrates a process400 using a target illumination in identifying the target colors forsamples. The target illumination identified in a block 410 may be anyillumination having a defined spectral power distribution and mayparticularly be a frequently encountered type of illumination, e.g.,natural light such as light from the sun or sky under certainatmospheric conditions, e.g., fog, dark clouds, sunset in a smoggyvalley, sunlight filtered through trees or a particular type ofartificial light such as light from a camp fire, candle, oil lamp,incandescent bulb, fluorescent light, or sodium-vapor lamp. In one veryspecific implementation, a person choosing an item such as clothing towear or purchase may select a target illumination based on the lightingunder which the item may be used. In such cases, a goal for thesynthesized illumination may be that the synthesized illumination wouldcause the samples, e.g., cloth or dye samples related to the item beingviewed, to have apparent colors that are the same or nearly the same asthe colors that the samples would appear to have under the targetillumination.

A block 420 of process 400 uses the optical metrics of the samples andthe target illumination to calculate or otherwise determine the desiredcolors. In particular, the spectral power distribution of lightreflected from the sample when under the target illumination is aproduct of the spectral power distribution of the target illuminationand the spectral reflectance of the sample. The target color correspondsto the apparent color of the light reflected from the sample, and asdescribed below, the target color can be represented as a tristimulusvalue having three coordinates, in accordance with the fact that threetypes of cone cells in the typical human eye are stimulated by lightreflected from or transmitted through an object.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a process 500 that determines the targetcolors for samples in order to compensate for deterioration or otherchanges in the optical properties of the samples. For example, a work ofart, a fabric, or any other object may contain pigments that havechanged, e.g., faded, for some reason, e.g., aging or environmentalfactors, and it may be possible to choose the target colors to provideobjects with apparent colors resembling their colors before thedeterioration. The example implementation of FIG. 5 begins with a block510 that determines the changes or deterioration in the reflectances ortransmittances of a set of samples. For example, the reflectances of aset of dabs of different color paints in a painting may be measured andcompared to reflectances for new paint containing identical compositionor pigments. Block 520 can identify the target colors as the colors thesamples would have under a target illumination before the deteriorationor other change, e.g., when the samples were new. The changedreflectances measured for the samples can subsequently be used in anattempt to synthesize illumination that gives the samples their targetcolors, e.g., the original or fresh colors. In an ideal case,synthesized illumination may be able to restore the appearance of apainting which has deteriorated to the original appearance the paintinghad when freshly painted. In some cases, deterioration does not permitrestoration of all deteriorated colors, but partial restoration of somedeteriorated colors may still be possible.

Synthesis of the illumination as in step 340 of FIG. 3 as noted abovemay be performed as a process for minimizing the difference between thetarget colors and apparent colors under illumination by the availableluminaire system. Many techniques for using computers or computingsystems to solve minimization problems with constraints are known in theart of optimization and could be employed when synthesizingillumination. As an example, a synthesis process could begin with someinitial settings of drive levels of independently controllable colorchannels of a luminaire and randomly or systematically alter the drivelevel settings. One type of minimization process evaluates differencebetween the target colors of the samples and the apparent colors underilluminations corresponding to the settings of the drive levels, and theevaluated illumination that provides a smallest difference can beselected as the synthesized illumination.

FIG. 6 shows an illumination synthesis process 600 according to onespecific implementation that calculates a difference or merit function.Process 600 begins with identifying the target colors for a set ofsamples, which can be performed as described above. A synthesis process620 then finds a synthesized illumination that the available luminairesystem is able to produce and that gives the samples apparent colorsclose to the target colors. Synthesis process 620 begins within a block630 that selects a candidate illumination. The candidate illumination isan illumination that the available luminaire system can produce and, forexample, may be defined by a set of drive levels for the color channelsof the specific luminaire that may be used to illuminate theenvironment. Any initial candidate illumination or drive levels could beemployed.

In one specific example, block 630 may constrain the initial andsubsequent candidate drive levels to drive levels that produce candidateilluminations that in some manner match a target illumination. Candidateilluminations may, for example, be constrained to have color thatmatches the color of the target illumination. Such a constraint reducesthe number of degrees of freedom of selection of candidateilluminations. For example, for a luminaire system having five channelsand unconstrained candidates have five degrees of freedom correspondingto the five independent drive levels for the light channels.Constraining the color of the candidate illumination to be the same asthe color of the target illumination removes three degrees of freedom ifthe colors are defined by tristimulus values. In another formulation,luminous flux and a color point in a particular two-dimensional colorspace, of the candidate illumination is constrained to those of thetarget illumination. For the 5-channel luminaire, block 630 can choose acandidate illumination by selecting two drive levels and calculating theother three drive levels based on the color constraint. The constraintmay further place limits within the available degrees of freedom. FIG.7, for example, shows a region boundary 710 for drive levels on amberand white light channels in an exemplary 5-channel luminaire that alsoincludes red, green and blue channels, under a constraint that thetristimulus value of the candidate illumination is the same as that ofthe target illumination. Levels of a merit function are shown by levelcontours 720, and contour labels correspond to the values of the meritfunction. If there is no target illumination relevant to the targetcolor points and no other constraints applied, block 630 can selectinitial and subsequent candidate illuminations in any desired fashion.For example, the initial candidate illumination may be zero illuminationor an illumination corresponding to equal values or the drive levels forthe color channels of the luminaire system. The initial candidate mayalso be selected to meet other constraints.

Blocks 640 and 650 evaluate how well the current candidate illuminationprovides the target colors. In particular, block 640 calculates thecolor points of the samples under the current candidate illumination. Inone implementation, block 640 first determines for each sample aspectral power distribution (SPD) corresponding to light reflected fromthe sample under illumination by the candidate illumination. As notedabove, the power in the reflected SPD at each wavelength of light is aproduct of the power of the SPD of the candidate illumination at thatwavelength and the spectral reflectance of the sample at thatwavelength. The reflected or transmitted SPD for a sample can berepresented as a function over a continuous range of wavelengths andtherefore has an infinite number of degrees of freedom. However, sincecolor as seen by human vision is determined by tristimulus values, theapparent color of the SPD for a sample can be reduced to just threecoordinates. Various colorimetric systems calculate tristimulus valuescorresponding to illumination from a spectral power distribution (SPD)using three color-matching functions (CMFs). Under such colorimetricsystems, each tristimulus value may be calculated as scalar products ofthe CMFs and the SPD. For each scalar product, the relevant CMF and theSPD may both be expressed as vectors having N components. In particular,both the SPD and CMF can be sampled in a certain wavelength range fromλ₀ to λ_(N-1) with a wavelength step Δλ, and so N=1+(λ_(N-1)−λ₀)/Δλ. Thewavelength range of interest may correspond to the wavelength range ofhuman vision, for example, from 360 nm to 800 nm. If SPDs and CMFs aresampled with a 5-nm wavelength step, the dimension N of these vectors isequal to 89. A three-component or tristimulus color point tcorresponding to a particular N-component SPD vector S can thus be givenby Equation 1 where vectors t ₁, t ₂, t ₃ are color-matching functions(N-dimensional vectors) and where a scalar product of vectors is shownby angle brackets. The three-component or tristimulus value t issometimes referred to herein as a color point.

t=[

S,t ₁

S,t ₂

S,t ₃

]  Equation 1:

Color matching functions or vectors t ₁, t ₂, t ₃ can be determinedempirically. The most traditional system relies on color matchingfunctions x, y, z based on experimental data from 1931. The notation forthe 3-dimensional color point defined through these CMF is (X,Y,Z).There have been various improvements to the 1931 color matchingfunctions since then, notably, 1964 CMFs based on the set of colormatching data obtained by Stiles and Burch in 1959. Various nonlineartransformations of three components of color point X, Y, Z have alsoattempted to make color space more perceptionally uniform. Yuv, La*b*,Lu*v* and many other color spaces are all based on color points (X,Y,Z)where each tristimulus component is derived as scalar product of the SPDand an empirically determined CMF. Block 640 can calculate the colorpoints under the candidate illumination using any of these formalismsbut does not require a particular choice of mapping from the reflectedSPD to color points and particularly does not require use of particularCMFs. In general, when new experimental data concerning human visionbecomes available, further refinements to CMFs may be made, and themethods disclosed herein may use the updated CMFs or other newformalisms.

Block 650 determines a measure of a difference between the target colorpoints for the samples and the color points of samples under thecandidate illumination. In one implementation, the difference or meritfunction relevant to this problem may be an expression based onthree-dimensional color points t^(v) of a set of V samples undersynthesized illumination (where index v has V possible values) andthree-dimensional target color points t_(t) ^(v) of the same set ofsamples. Samples may be chosen using any of the above techniques for anyof the above reasons, but for some specific examples, the samples may becolor standards such as the pastel colors of Color Rendering Index (CRI)test color set, saturated colors of Color Quality System (CQS) set, orcustom standards specific to a scene for which illumination issynthesized. CRI and CQS have been developed to calculate colorrendering indices. Each index is based on a specific test color samples,so that tabulated data is available for color samples defined by CRI andCQS standards.

Equation 2 expresses an illustrative example of a merit function ordifference F between color points t^(v) of a set of V samples undercandidate illumination and target color points t_(t) ^(v) of thesamples. In Equation 2, each parameter w_(v) is a weight factorassociated with the sample having index v. Weight factors w_(v) maycharacterize the importance of fidelity of replication of the targetcolor of a specific sample. The colors of the samples may be distributedin color space, and weight factors w_(v) may also be used to compensatefor nonlinearity of the color space.

$\begin{matrix}{F = {\sum\limits_{v = 0}^{V - 1}{w_{v}\left( {t^{v} - t_{t}^{v}} \right)}^{2}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2}\end{matrix}$

FIG. 7 shows contour lines 720 corresponding to a merit function F overthe permitted region of drive levels within boundary 710. In general,process 600 seeks to find a point 730 that minimizes the merit functionF within the permitted or achievable regions of drive levels. Theillustrated contour map is a result of the calculation of the meritfunction defined in Equation 2 for a luminaire having five independentlycontrollable channels including a total of 80 LEDs. The five lightchannels respectively include red, green, and blue direct LED channelsand neutral-white and amber phosphor-converted LED channels. Targetcolor points of color samples correspond to the samples beingilluminated by 2000 lumens of illumination characteristic to that ofsunlight at sunrise. As discussed above, under the color constraint onthe synthesized illumination, the number of the degrees of freedom in a5-channel system is reduced from five to two. Therefore, just two drivelevels, for example, drive levels of white and amber channels, definethe spectrum that the luminaire produces. The complete set of five drivelevels that meet a color constraint may be referred to as a “solution.”For each pair of values of the drive levels on white and amber channels,at most one solution exists, and within the boundary 710 in white-amberdrive level axes lies a region of solutions.

A decision block 660 decides whether another candidate illuminationneeds to be considered after block 650 determines the difference ormerit function value F for the previous candidate illumination. Thedecision of whether to consider another candidate can be made using anumber of different criteria. For example, block 660 may decide not toconsider another candidate illumination if the merit function is lessthan a cutoff value indicating that the candidate illumination justconsidered provides apparent colors of samples that are sufficientlyclose to the target colors of the samples. Alternatively, block 660 maydecide to repeatedly select another candidate illumination until apredetermined number of candidates have been evaluated during respectiverepetitions of blocks 630 and 640. In yet another alternativeimplementation, block 660 may decide to repeatedly select anothercandidate illumination until a selection process converges on a solutionsuch that drive levels of light sources have not changed by more than apredetermined amount over a predetermined number of repetitions.

If block 660 decides that another candidate illumination needs to beevaluated, process 620 jumps back to block 630 where a new candidateillumination is selected, e.g., from within boundary 710 of FIG. 7. Eachnew candidate selected in block 630 may be selected by systematically orrandomly stepping through the possible illuminations that the availableluminaire system can produce, e.g., by stepping through settings ofdrive signals of the light channels of the luminaire system. Block 630may also use the determined differences or merit functions for thecandidates already evaluated and select a new candidate that tends toconverge toward a minimum in the difference or merit function.

If block 660 decides that another candidate illumination does not needto be evaluated, process 620 proceeds to block 670, which may select asthe synthesized illumination, the evaluated candidate illumination thatprovides the smallest difference between the target color points for thesamples and the color points of samples under any of the evaluatedcandidate illuminations. Selection in block 670 can be made withoutregard to color rendering indices or a correlated color temperature ofthe synthesized illumination and even without regard to whether colorrendering indices or a correlated color temperature is defined for thesynthesized illumination. The synthesis method can thus be applied tofind a synthesized illumination that is other than white light.

A special case of light synthesis process 600 is sometimes referred toherein as the light replication problem. For the light replicationproblem, a synthesized illumination from a luminaire system is desiredto provide samples with the same colors that would be provided under atarget illumination to be replicated. Process 600 as described above canprovide the best results at a minimum of the merit function under theconstraint that the synthesized illumination can be produced by theavailable luminaire system. Further in the case of light replication,the minimum of the merit function may be found under a furtherconstraint that color points of the synthesized illumination and thetarget illumination are coincident, within a predetermined accuracy.This constraint reflects a reasonable requirement or goal that, when onelooks at sources of the synthesized and target illuminations, thesources look as close to identical as possible. In process 600 of FIG.6, this further constraint can be realized by limiting the candidateilluminations selected in block 630 to candidate illuminations havingcolor points that differ from the color point of the target illuminationby no more than a cutoff difference.

The example of a quadratic merit function F such as given in Equation 2allows for a more mathematical description of a specific minimizationprocess. For this example and for compactness of expressions (butwithout loss of generality), all weights w_(v) for index v from 0 to V−1may be set unity, giving a merit function F of the form of Equation 3A.In Equation 3, r_(a) is a 3V-component vector formed from the componentsof tristimulus color points t^(v), and r_(t) is a 3V-component vectorformed from the components of target tristimulus color points t_(t)^(v). In general, a 3V-component color vector r may be formed as a listof tristimulus values of color samples under a particular illumination,as shown in Equation 3B.

F=|r _(a) −r _(t)|²  Equation 3A:

r=[t ⁰ . . . t ^(V-1)]^(T)  Equation 3B:

The merit function F of Equation 3A has an obvious minimum atr_(a)=r_(t) but that exact solution may not be available under thepossible luminations from a luminaire system. Accordingly, a synthesizedillumination that provides a best or satisfactory value for apparentcolor vector r_(a) may be sought from among the available illuminationsthat a luminaire system can provide. The capabilities of the luminairesystem determine the minimum value for merit function F. In oneparticular implementation of the replication problem, another constraintfor the minimization of the merit function F (in addition to limitationsof the luminaire system) may be that color points of synthesized andtarget illumination are coincident, within a predetermined accuracy,e.g., |t−t_(t)|≦δ where t and t_(t) are the color points of thesynthesized illumination and the target illumination and δ is a constantor limit value. This constraint reflects a reasonable requirement that,when one looks at sources of synthesized and target illuminations, thesynthesized and target illuminations should look as close to identicalas possible.

Sample target color vector r_(t) and the color point t_(t) of the targetillumination may be given quantities for the replication problem. Forexample, a user may select or provide such quantities by selectingpreferences for a synthesis process. Target color vector r_(t) and thecolor point t_(t) could alternatively be calculated quantities, forexample, results found in processes such as described above withreference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In either case, a desired spectral powerdistribution may be represented by sample target color vector r_(t) andthe color point t_(t).

Sample apparent colors vector r_(a) may be calculated based on theillumination S from a luminaire system and reflectances f of the samplesof interest. The illumination S from a particular luminaire system canformally describe as a sum of the spectral power distributions of the Memitters as given in Equation 4. In Equation 4, k_(m) is a drive levelfor the light channel having an index m, and s_(m) represent anormalized spectral power distribution for light channel m, e.g., ameasured spectral power distribution for a light channel divided by thedrive level for the light channel. For luminaire 120 or 220 of FIG. 1 or2, each normalized spectrum s_(m) may be among the recorded channelspectral power distributions 164. In general, the radiant power from alight channel may be a nonlinear function of the drive level, so thenormalized distribution s_(m) may be a function of k_(m), for example,in the case of an LED driven by DC current.

$\begin{matrix}{S = {\sum\limits_{m = 0}^{M - 1}{k_{m}s_{m}}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4}\end{matrix}$

Apparent color vector r_(a) used in Equation 3A has 3V components formedfrom t_(a) ^(v), each of which is a tristimulus color point. Tristimulusvalue t_(a) ^(v) that enters the apparent color vector r_(a)corresponding to an index v can be found, as shown in Equation 1, fromscalar products of the color matching functions x, y, and z with awavelength-by-wavelength product of synthesized illumination spectrum Sand a reflectance f^(v) of sample v. Equation 5 further introduces aconstant 3V×M matrix R of 3V-component color vectors that may becalculated from the spectral reflectances f^(v) of the V samples, thenormalized spectral power distributions s_(m) for index m from 0 to M−1,and color matching functions x, y, and z. Merit function F may thus bereformulated in terms of variable drive levels k_(m) or of a variabledrive vector k as in Equation 6.

R=[r ₀ . . . r _(M-1)]  Equation 5:

F=|Rk−r _(t)|²  Equation 6:

The synthesis of illumination S can result from finding values of drivelevels k_(m) that minimize merit function F under the constraints thatthe drive levels k_(m) are positive values and cannot exceed the maximumvalues for each channel K_(m) that the drivers of the luminaire systemcan supply. In some cases, as noted above, the minimization is under anadditional constraint that the color points t_(t) and t of target andsynthesized illumination are the same within an accuracy δ. One methodof handling this constraint is mathematically the same as adding, with acertain weight, another sample having uniform reflectance ortransmittance for all wavelengths and a target color point t_(t) for theadded “sample” that is the same as the color point of the targetillumination. Equation 7 shows a merit function F based on Equation 6but modified to include a term corresponding to the constraint on thecolor point t_(t) of the synthesized illumination. In Equation 7, W is aweight factor, and T is a constant 3 by M matrix of three-componentcolor points that may be calculated from scalar products of thenormalized spectral power distributions s_(m) for index m from 0 to M−1and color matching functions x, y, and z.

F=|Rk−r _(t)|² +W|Tk−t _(t)|²  Equation 7:

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a process 800 for finding drive settings ofa luminaire system. Process 800 particularly synthesizes an illuminationS that suitably minimizes the merit function F given in Equation 7. Thedescription of process 800 is intended to provide greater detail of aspecific process and particularly employs the mathematical terminologydescribed above, but such details are illustrative and are notnecessarily required.

Process 800 starts in a block 810 that chooses an initial value for theweight W from a monotonically increasing sequence of weights. Ingeneral, process 800 aims at finding a minimum for merit function F, butspecific color samples v will generally have apparent colors t^(v) thatdiffer from their target colors t_(t) ^(v). Similarly, color point t ofthe synthesized illumination may differ from target color point t_(t).Weight factor W effectively controls the importance of apparentillumination color t being close to target illumination color t_(t).Block 810 may start with a modest weight, e.g., W=1, and process 800 asdescribed further below can then determine whether that weight W leadsto a satisfactory synthesized illumination.

Block 815 of process 800 selects an initial value for a drive vector k,which has components that are drive levels k_(j) for index j from 0 toM−1 where M is the number of light channels available in the luminairesystem. Block 815 may, for example, set all drive levels k_(j) initiallyto zero. A block 820 then initializes a channel index j.

A block 825 steps drive level k_(j) to the value that minimizes meritfunction F with the current value of weight W, while all other drivelevels are kept constant. In particular, the merit function F definedabove has a minimum along the direction of drive level k_(j) at whichthe partial derivative of merit function F with respect to drive levelk_(j) is zero. The step along drive level k_(j) taken in block 825 maytake drive vector k outside of it permitted range, e.g., component drivelevel k_(j) may become negative or greater than the maximum permit drivelevel. Decision step 830 determines whether the luminaire system permitsthe new drive vector k. If not, a block 835 sets component drive levelk_(j) at the boundary of the permitted range, e.g., 0 or a maximum drivelevel value, whichever is closer to the determined new drive levelk_(j). A descent cycle can similarly move all of the component drivelevels in order to minimize merit function F to the extent consistentwith the available drive levels of the luminaire system, and a decisionblock 840 determines whether a descent cycle is complete. If not, ablock 845 sets index j to its next value, and process returns to block825 to step the next drive level k_(j) toward the minimum of the meritfunction F.

Multiple descent cycles may be needed to find a minimum for meritfunction F with a particular weight factor W. Decision step 850determines whether stepping of the drive levels has reached a suitableminimum. In particular, if the magnitude |Δk| of the change Δk in drivevector k during a predetermined number of prior descent cycles is lessthan or equal to some cutoff Δ, drive vector k may be close to a minimumin merit function F. If the drive vector k has recently changed morethan the cutoff Δ, another predetermined number of descent cycles mayneed to be performed, and process 800 jumps from decision block 850 to adecision block 855, which determines whether another descent cycleshould be performed. If so, process 800 jumps from decision block 855back to block 820 for the next descent cycle. Block 855 may limit thenumber of descent cycles to a fixed number, so that reaching a lastdescent cycle indicates a failure to find a preferred solution.

If block 850 determines that recent descent cycles have notsignificantly changed drive vector k, process 800 branches from block850 to decision block 860. Decision block 860 then determines whetherthe current drive vector k provides synthesized illumination with anapparent color point t close to the target color point t_(t) for theillumination, e.g., |t−t_(t)|≦δ within a predetermined accuracy δ. Ifso, the current drive vector k defines a synthesized illumination thatprovides an acceptable minimization of merit function F and anacceptable illumination color point t, and process is complete. Ifdecision block 860 determines that apparent color point t is notsufficiently close to the target color point t_(t) for the illumination,process 800 branches from decision block 860 to decision block 865 anddetermines whether another weight W should be tried in merit function F.In particular, a block 870 can choose the next larger weight from thesequence chosen in block 810, and process 800 can return to block 820 tobegin descent cycles for merit function F with the new weight W. Ifdecision step 865 determines all weights have been tried, process 800may end without finding a preferred solution for the synthesizedillumination.

FIG. 9A shows a chromaticity diagram to graphically illustrate asolution for a synthesized illumination from a 5-channel luminairesystem. The luminaire system and the target illumination in this exampleare the same as the ones for which the merit function contour map wascalculated and shown in FIG. 7. The synthesized illumination containscontributions from light channels having respective color points 911 to915. The three light channels corresponding to color points 911, 913,and 914 may be have narrow spectral power distributions, e.g., close tomonochromatic, and have color points near a boundary 920 of the CIEchromaticity diagram. In the illustration, these are red channel 911,green 913, and blue 914. The light channel corresponding to color point912 is phosphor-converted amber, and the channel corresponding to 915 isphosphor-converted white. This fifth light channel corresponding tocolor point 915 has a relatively broad spectral power distribution, andcolor point 915 is near the black body locus 922. In FIG. 9A, circlesaround the color points 911 to 915 indicate the relative sizes of therespective drive levels for light channels when producing thesynthesized illumination. In this particular example, the drive currentsare as follows: red 98 mA, green 212 mA, blue 128 mA, white 144 mA, andamber 0 mA. Thus, the light channel corresponding to color point 912 maybe off while the luminaire system produces the synthesized illumination.A color point 930 represents the color point of the target illumination,and the apparent color point of the synthesized illumination isindicated by a square 932 which landed within 0.1 (x, y) color point of930 for this synthesized illumination. Returning to FIG. 7 we note thatthe minimum value of the merit function was found by direct calculationon a mesh grid of white and amber drive levels, at drive levels around145 mA (white) and 0 mA (amber), in agreement with the optimizationsolution illustrated in FIG. 9A.

FIG. 9B shows a target spectral distribution 940 and a synthesizedspectral distribution 950 corresponding to the chromaticity diagram ofFIG. 9A. As shown, synthesized spectral distribution 950 is acombination of spectral distributions 961, 963, 964, and 965 from lightchannels having color points 911, 913, 914, and 915. Spectraldistribution 950 of the synthesized illumination is similar to thetarget spectral distribution 940 over an important range of wavelengthsbetween about 400 nm and 700 nm but differs from target spectraldistribution 940 even in that range. FIG. 9C, however, shows apparentcolor points 970 of fifteen samples of the CQS color set under thesynthesized illumination that when plotted in L*a*b* color space differonly slightly from the target colors for the samples. In FIG. 9C, a plot980 (shown with a solid line) connecting the apparent color points 970differs only slightly from a plot 990 (shown with a dashed line)connecting the target color points for the samples at the targetillumination. (Arrow heads in FIG. 9C are exaggerated to illustrate thedirection of the difference.) Accordingly, an illumination synthesizedto achieve apparent color points for samples may provide performanceapproximating the performance of the target illumination.

Color points used in the manner described above to determine asynthesized illumination can also provide advantages in methods forrepresenting a desired spectral distribution. In particular, spectraldistributions are continuous functions, and representing a spectraldistribution using discrete samples of the function in 5-nm wavelengthstep across the visible spectrum requires approximately 89 data values,e.g., floating point numbers. In contrast, a representation of aspectral distribution using the target color point for the spectraldistribution and the target color points for set of standard samples mayprovide a more compact representation. FIG. 10, for example, shows adata structure 1000 representing a spectral distribution using colorpoints for a target color point for the spectral distribution and targetcolor points for set of standard samples. If nine standard samples areused, data structure 1000 may include thirty data values including threedata values for the target color point of the spectral distribution andthree data values for each of nine color points corresponding to thenine samples. A representation using sampling of the spectraldistribution or color points is independent of particular luminairestructure, e.g., independent of the number M or characteristics of thelight channels in the luminaire, and the techniques described above canconvert either representation into luminaire specific drive levels.However, the representation using color points as shown in FIG. 10 canreduces data storage and bandwidth requirements for storing ortransmitting data representing spectral distributions.

Table 1 illustrates the relative data requirements of differentrepresentations of spectral power distributions in a luminaire system.In particular, a sampled spectral distribution requires the most data torepresent but is already in a form suitable for many calculations. Arepresentation using color points and nine samples contains less databut requires color matching functions and optical metrics of the testsamples for conversion of the representation to a sampled spectral powerdistribution. A representation that uses drive levels for a referenceluminaire system, e.g., a luminaire with six light channels, contain theleast data but requires that the luminaire system know the normalizedspectral power distributions for the light channels of the referenceluminaire.

TABLE 1 Number of Luminaire Data Data Values in needed to ConvertRepresentation Type Representation Representation to SPD SampledSpectral 89 None Distribution Target Color Points 30 CMFs, Sample DataStandard Drive Values 6 Normalized Channel SPDs for Reference Luminaire

Some embodiments of the above invention may be implemented in acomputer-readable media, e.g., a non-transient media, such as an opticalor magnetic disk, a memory card, or other solid state storage containinginstructions that a computing device can execute in order to performspecific processes that are described herein. Such media may further beor be contained in a server or other device connected to a network suchas the Internet that provides for the downloading of data and executableinstructions.

Although particular implementations have been disclosed, theseimplementations are only examples and should not be taken aslimitations. Various adaptations and combinations of features of theimplementations disclosed are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining a set of targetcolors respectively for a set of samples; and operating a device to finda plurality of settings for a plurality of light sources in a luminairesystem, wherein the device selects the settings based on a meritfunction of the target colors of the samples and apparent colors of thesamples under illumination that the luminaire system would produce withthe settings selected.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining thetarget colors comprises: determining apparent colors that the sampleswould have under a target illumination; and using as the target colors,the apparent colors that the samples would have under the targetillumination.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the apparentcolors comprises using a spectral distribution of the targetillumination and respective optical metrics of the samples incalculating the respective apparent colors for the samples in the targetillumination.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the optical metrics ofthe samples represent the respective spectral reflectances ortransmittances of the samples.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining the target colors comprises: identifying one or more changesin optical properties of the samples; determining apparent colors thatthe samples would have had before the changes in the optical properties;and using as the target colors, the apparent colors that the sampleswould have had before the changes in the optical properties.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein identifying the changes in the opticalproperties comprises identifying deterioration in reflectances ortransmittances of the samples.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein: thesamples comprise at least one of a pigment, a dye, a paint, clothing, aplant, a flower, glassware, or room furnishing to be illuminated; thechanges comprise changes in reflectances or transmittances of thesamples; and determining the apparent colors comprises determiningapparent colors that the samples would have without the changes.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the merit function is a function ofdifferences between the target colors of the samples and the respectiveapparent colors of the samples under illumination that the luminairesystem would produce with the settings selected.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the merit function is a weighted sum of square thedifferences between the target colors and the apparent colors.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising operating the luminaire system touse the settings when illuminating an environment.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the samples comprise objects in the environment. 12.The method of claim 1, wherein the samples have respective opticalmetrics defined by a public standard.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the public standard defines a color quality system.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein selecting the settings comprises a successiveapproximation process.
 15. A luminaire system comprising: a plurality oflight sources; a device configured to determine driving signals for thelight sources based on a merit function, the merit function being afunction of a set of target colors respectively of a set of samples andof apparent colors respectively of the samples under illumination fromthe light sources; and a driver capable of applying the driving signalsto the plurality of light sources.
 16. The luminaire system of claim 15,wherein the drive signals determine a spectral power distribution of theillumination that the light sources collectively provide.
 17. Theluminaire system of claim 15, further comprising a measuring unit formeasuring light reflection or transmission characteristics of thesamples.
 18. The luminaire system of claim 15, wherein the devicecalculates the apparent colors using light reflection or transmissioncharacteristics of the samples.
 19. The luminaire system of claim 18,wherein the device is configured to operate on a representation thatincludes photometric characteristics of a target illumination reflectedby a plurality of samples.
 20. The luminaire system of claim 18, whereinthe device is configured to operate on a representation that includesradiometric characteristics of target illumination reflected by aplurality of samples.